


Back from Babel

by Deannie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 13:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1900410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deannie/pseuds/Deannie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was never fun to dig up painful memories. God knew Jack  knew that. Maybe Daniel had been keeping his distance as a way to deny the fear he'd been feeling then... Jack figured it was time to stir the pot a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back from Babel

Life just wasn't fair. That was all there was to it. 

Jack O'Neill limped down the corridors of SGC, slowly enough to still look good. Damn ankle. Of all the stupid things to happen. Did he get injured on a mission? No, that'd be... well, at this point that'd be _expected_ , he guessed. The fact that he had sprained his ankle playing hockey somehow made the whole thing embarrassing. 

And left him with a lot of downtime. 

Of course, the whole team had downtime when one of them was out of commission, but somehow, Sam and Daniel always seemed to lose themselves in the belly of SGC, and Teal'c wasn't really the kind of guy you could take to a bar, now was he? So Jack prowled--as well as he could. 

He hadn't bothered to go home tonight--too restless, he guessed. So he walked the halls, ending up, as he always seemed to, outside Daniel's office. They hadn't spent a night together in over a month, and he supposed it was the fact that he missed their easy banter that led him to show up here, time and time again. Finally, this time, he went in. It was either that, or have his ankle collapse on him out in the corridor. 

Jack leaned against the wall near the doorway, watching Daniel. Truth be told, he did that a lot when the archeologist was working. Not that Daniel ever noticed. Which was, of course, the best time to watch him. 

Dr. Jackson (and you couldn't help but think of him that way when he was like this) was deep in the throes of his research. He had both computers going, with the typical alien gobbledygook on them, plus the standard vasty fields of moldy old books, each open to the perfect page, and all piled on top of each other, ready to tumble to the ground at an unwary motion. 

"Hey, Daniel." 

Daniel looked up--for a second, anyway--before quickly returning his attention to the legal pad in front of him. "Hey, Jack. What's going on?" 

Jack shrugged. Still getting the silent treatment, he sighed to himself. "Nothing. Just thought I'd come down and keep you company." Dead silence met his offer. Daniel kept right on working, and, despite his own worries, Jack just had to smile. The kid was cute when he was like this. Something about all that focused energy, all the manic concentration. But he did tend to forget the little things. 

"You eat dinner yet?" 

Daniel glanced up again, and a comical look came over his face, as if he were surprised to find Jack still there. "What? Uh, no... No, I figured I'd..." He trailed off for a moment, looking around him and snagging another book to add to the piles. "I figured I'd pick something up later." 

Jack looked at his watch. Didn't get much later than 12:15 in the morning, did it? Well, for Daniel it did. And Sam. And Teal'c was known to spend all night at his Kel'no'reem... Shaking his head as his logic collapsed on him, Jack edged further into the cluttered office, perching himself on a stool and sighing in relief as the movement took the pressure off of his damaged leg. 

"How's the ankle?" Daniel asked, that breezy, distracted tone to his voice. The caring was vague and absent--not at all the laser-sharp worry Jack had come to expect over the last couple of years. 

He shrugged in response. "Still throbbing, but at least I managed to lose the damn crutches." 

Daniel nodded and leafed through the book in front of him, engrossed in the text. After a long moment, he hit a key on one of the computers, and Jack was surprised to hear his own voice, uttering unfamiliar words, issuing from the speakers. Daniel sat down stiffly and made a quick set of notes, while Jack's mind suddenly put together a million clues and came up with the reason for their current estrangement. 

Daniel hadn't touched the information Jack had had "downloaded" into his brain since Jack had returned from Thor's people. O'Neill knew exactly why, too. What he remembered was difficult enough, but Sam had been very clear about Daniel's panic as Jack himself had slowly slipped into a world his mind couldn't know the words for. 

He was more than a little surprised to see his lover working away on it now. It was never fun to dig up painful memories. God knew Jack knew that. Maybe Daniel had been keeping his distance as a way to deny the fear he'd been feeling then... 

Jack figured it was time to stir the pot a little. 

"Did I look that cute when I was doing my Babel thing?" he asked, carefully nonchalant. 

Daniel shrugged, tensing every muscle at the change of subject--just as Jack had known he would. "No. Well, actually, yes... in a terrifying sort of way." 

Jack rose, limping carefully across the room to stand behind his friend. "I bet I didn't," he said quietly, reaching out to start a slow, comforting massage of his lover's shoulders. "You sit down with these books, and you... well, you kind of glow, you know?" 

Daniel resisted the intimacy. "Not really," he replied, trying desperately to bury himself in research. 

Jack sighed, dropping his hands to his sides in momentary defeat. "You really should eat." 

Daniel grabbed another book. "I will. I just want to finish translating this one stanza." He looked up at the computer screen, adding off-handedly. "You know, the Ancients seemed to write in a form that's similar to post-mediaeval poetry. Not quite iambic--unless my pronunciation is way off--" 

"How would you know if it was?" Jack asked, resigned to being lectured for the time being. 

Daniel shrugged again. "Okay. Point taken. Still," he continued, wrapping himself in his research, "the way _you_ pronounced it, it seems similar to proto-Renaissance verse. Kind of similar to the little bit we know of the Nox language, actually." 

He was distracted by the data, but Jack didn't miss the small hitch in his tone when he mentioned Jack himself. Daniel had had a month to convince himself that his lover was back. Sane. Whole... It hadn't been enough. 

Of course, it wasn't like he'd been _trying_ , either. Jack figured he'd have to do something about that. 

His hands returned to Daniel's shoulders, kneading at the tight knots there. "I should be fishing, you know?" 

"Your ankle's sprained," Daniel reminded him, focusing on his book. Looked like he was having a little trouble staying on topic, though, Jack thought happily. 

He found a particularly stubborn knot and worked it with maddening gentleness. "You fish sitting down." 

"Jack, stop it." Daniel was too busy trying to study the text before him to sound _really_ irritated. "I need to get this done." 

"Tonight?" Jack asked quietly, dropping his voice as he leaned in and all but whispered in his lover's ear. 

"Well, Dr. Fraiser said you'd be cleared for duty in another few days." He was trying. Jack had to give him that. But he could feel the shoulders beneath his hands start to relax. And at this time of night, that kind of relaxation led to only two things--both best done at Jack's house, away from the security cameras. 

As if in vindication of his thoughts, Daniel yawned. "I'd like to figure out this one passage before then. If I'm reading it right, it's a call to meeting. And it speaks of an adversary," he continued, interrupted briefly by another yawn. "It could be the Goa'uld." 

Jack nodded, reducing his massage to a gentle rub across Daniel's shoulders. "Could be." 

"Jack, come on," Daniel begged half-heartedly, finally sitting back from his books. "I need to do this." 

Inwardly crowing his triumph, Jack turned Daniel's chair around so his lover was facing him. "What you need is a pizza and some sleep," he commanded. "Not necessarily in that order." 

Daniel kept his gaze on the floor between them, and Jack almost heard his thoughts: the lingering worry about what the Ancients' knowledge might have done to Jack in the long term. How difficult it was to open up again after nearly losing him... Daniel hovered on the edge for a long moment, and Jack held his breath until he saw that resigned smile break across the younger man's face. Daniel finally met his eyes, and the smile melted into a soft grin that Jack knew was all his own. 

"Fine. Pizza. Sleep." Daniel dropped his pencil to the desk and rose, a blush of humor in his tone. "Not like I'm going to get anything done with you hanging around anyway." 

Jack pretended affront. "Are you saying I'm impeding the search for the meaning of life?" 

Daniel seemed about to respond in kind when his gaze suddenly grew shadows again. Jack didn't remember much of his time in Babel, but he knew Daniel remembered every moment. And he himself clearly remembered the overwhelming relief on that young face when he'd emerged from the gate, finally himself again. 

"I guess it depends on your definition," Daniel allowed finally. He shook himself, and Jack could see a kind of peace settle in those beautiful eyes. 

"Come on, Jack," Daniel said, offering his hand as Jack started to limp slowly from the room. "I'll drive you home. Are you sure Janet said you could ditch the crutches?" 

Jack grinned blithely, silently claiming it his mission in life to make sure Daniel didn't leave his house, once there. "Sure. She said that." Daniel looked up at him speculatively, and Jack raised his hands in defense. "What? You don't believe me?" 

Daniel hadn't yet given his answer when they made it to the elevators, heading home. 

* * *  
The End


End file.
